Nico Rosberg maintained he will live with the second-place finish at the 2016 United States Grand Prix on Sunday.
The German, who sits pretty on the top of the driver standing with 331 points, could have made it difficult for title rival Lewis Hamilton if he had taken the full 25 points at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. However, the Brit dominated the race after starting from pole and romped to the 50th title of his F1 career.
Notably, only Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91) have won won more races than Hamilton in the history of the sport.
A good start on Sunday helped the Mercedes driver to consolidate his position and cut down Rosberg's lead at the top of the standings down to just 26 points. With three more races to go in the ongoing season, Hamilton has revived his hopes of defending the drivers' championship.
On the other hand, Rosberg, who started from the front row along with his Mercedes teammate, slipped a position behind Daniel Ricciardo only to fight back and edge past the Red Bull driver, who finished third.
The championship leader thus missed out on his tenth title of the season and also has let Hamilton get back on the top step of the podium after a two-month gap. Rosberg though remained confident and said he will focus on winning the next race in Mexico.
"I just feel that it's a pity that it didn't work out with a win this weekend. I was going for that. It would have been awesome here in America but it didn't work out," Rosberg said, as quoted by F1's official website.
"Lewis did a great job this weekend, all the way through, qualifying and race so it just wasn't to be. I'll live with second place now and next race is another great opportunity."
Meanwhile, Hamilton, despite being untroubled in the race, revealed that he was constantly reminded of the Malaysia accident, an engine fire, that led to his retirement from the Sepang race, which he had dominated for the most part.
There were also words of optimism as the defending champion added he would try and make it hard for Rosberg in the remaining races.
"All I can do is do my best and continue to drive as I have this weekend. Nico has been driving fantastically well all year. So the battle will continue," Hamilton said.
"Honestly today, beyond doing the job, I was just the whole race concerned the car was not going to make it so right, I've been told the line, I was just in fear of the same thing, the same feeling, the sound that I heard in Malaysia, so I was grateful that the car made it across the line."
